Best SEO Company for Lawyers: A Scorecard for Judging Legal SEO Firms

Every agency that works with law firms says it is the best SEO company for lawyers, and there is no referee to check. No independent body ranks legal SEO firms, and you usually cannot tell how a “top agencies” list was put together. The useful question is not who is best in general, but which firm is best for your practice, judged on criteria you decide before the sales calls start.

I have worked in SEO and digital marketing for more than 16 years and I work with clients remotely from Bucharest. I am not a lawyer, and this article is not legal advice: anything that touches your professional conduct rules should be checked with your own counsel or your state bar’s ethics guidance. What follows is the scorecard I would use if I were hiring an SEO firm for a law practice, including when the firm on the other side of the table is me.

This article is about judging firms. If you need the work itself explained first, start with our law firm SEO playbook and our guide to law firm local SEO.

Why “best SEO company for lawyers” needs a scorecard

Most legal SEO sales pitches look the same: rankings screenshots, a few logos, a promise of more cases. You cannot verify most of it in a meeting, and some of it may not be true. A scorecard turns a sales conversation into a comparison. You ask every firm the same questions, write down the answers, and score them the same way.

Google’s page on whether you need an SEO suggests a similar approach. It recommends interviewing a potential SEO, checking their business references, and asking questions such as “What’s your experience in my industry?” and “What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?” The scorecard below builds on those questions with the ones that are specific to law firms.

The scorecard: eight criteria, scored 0 to 2

Give each criterion 0 (missing or a red flag), 1 (partly there) or 2 (clearly there). The maximum is 16. The total matters less than the pattern: a firm that scores 0 on ethics or honesty should be out, whatever else it offers.

The sections below explain what to ask for each criterion.

Legal experience and ethics-rule awareness

A firm with legal experience can explain how a person searching for a lawyer behaves, which practice areas are local, and why intake matters as much as traffic. Ask it to describe how it would structure your practice area pages and how it would handle a practice area that covers several states or courts.

Ethics awareness is more important, and easier to test. ABA Model Rule 7.1 says: “A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services.” A communication is false or misleading if it “contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law”, or leaves out a fact needed to make the statement, as a whole, not materially misleading. Titles, meta descriptions, Business Profile descriptions and review replies are all communications. Your state’s version of the rule may differ, so ask the firm which state rules it has worked under.

Model Rule 7.2 adds two points an SEO firm should know without prompting. Under 7.2(c), a lawyer “shall not state or imply that a lawyer is certified as a specialist in a particular field of law” unless the certification comes from an approved or ABA-accredited organisation that is clearly named. And under 7.2(d), a communication must include the name and contact information of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content.

I would rather lose a legal client over a cautious title tag than win one with a claim their counsel has to take down.

Content written for clients, not keywords

Legal topics affect people’s finances and sometimes their safety, and Google treats them carefully. Its guide to helpful, reliable, people-first content says its systems “give even more weight to content that aligns with strong E-E-A-T” on such topics, while noting that “E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor.”

What to look for in a firm’s sample content:

• Written for the client’s situation. What happens next, what to bring, what affects cost and timing. No promised outcomes.
• Reviewed by a lawyer. Google says: “We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it.” A good firm builds lawyer review and bylines into its process.
• Fewer, better pages. Google lists a warning question: “Are you producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?” A plan for hundreds of thin city and practice pages scores 0.

Ask for two or three pages the firm wrote for other law firms, with names removed if needed. Read them as a client would. If you would not send a client to that page, do not pay for more of them.

Local profiles, transparency and access

Google’s Business Profile guidelines treat lawyers as individual practitioners: “Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners.” A lawyer can have a profile only if they work in a public-facing role and “can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours.” The guidelines also say “A practitioner shouldn’t have multiple Business Profiles to cover all of their specializations”, and that a rented mailing address where the business does not operate, “also known as a virtual office, that location isn’t eligible for a Business Profile.”

A firm that offers extra profiles for practice areas, or listings at addresses where you have no office, is offering you a suspension risk. Score it 0.

Transparency is about ownership. Your firm should own:

1. The domain and hosting account, with your own login.
2. The Google Business Profiles, with the firm as owner and the agency as a manager.
3. Search Console and analytics, with the agency added as a user.
4. All content, images and code written for you, stated in the contract.
5. Call tracking numbers, if used, or a plan to move them if you leave.

When I start with a client, I ask to be added as a user on their accounts, never the other way round. If the firm you are scoring wants to set everything up under its own accounts, ask what happens to them when the contract ends.

Contracts, pricing and reporting

A good contract describes what will be done each month, who approves it, how either side can end the agreement and what you keep when it ends. Google’s warning applies here too: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.” A contract that promises specific rankings should lower the score, not raise it.

Pricing models and the referral rule

Most legal SEO is priced hourly, by fixed scope or as a monthly retainer. Some firms offer pay per lead or pay per signed case. Model Rule 7.2(b) says a lawyer “shall not compensate, give or promise anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer’s services”, with exceptions such as paying “the reasonable costs of advertisements or communications permitted by this Rule.” Whether a particular per-lead or per-case model fits inside those exceptions is a question for your counsel, not your SEO. A good firm will tell you that before you sign.

Reporting that a managing partner can use

Rankings are a useful early signal, but a law firm runs on consultations and signed matters. Ask each firm what its monthly report contains. A score of 2 means rankings for agreed keywords, plus calls, form submissions and consultations by practice area, with a short note on what was done and what is next. Our questions to ask SEO consultants include more on reporting and communication.

How to use the scorecard in practice

1. Agree the criteria internally first. Decide whether any criterion should count double for your firm, for example ethics review for a practice that advertises heavily.
2. Shortlist three firms. Use referrals from other lawyers and your bar association’s events, not only search results.
3. Ask every firm the same questions, in writing if possible, and request sample content and a sample report.
4. Check references. Google suggests asking past clients whether the SEO was useful, easy to work with and got positive results.
5. Score separately, then compare. Two people at the firm scoring independently catch more than one.
6. Remove any firm with a 0 on ethics or honesty, then choose the highest total among the rest.

For the questions specific to hiring an individual expert rather than a firm, see what law firms should ask a legal SEO expert.

FAQ

What is the best law firm SEO company?

There is no independent ranking. The best law firm SEO company for you is the one that scores highest on criteria you set: legal experience, ethics awareness, content quality, local profile practice, ownership, contract terms, pricing and reporting.

How do I judge the best law firm SEO agencies against each other?

Ask each agency the same questions, request sample content and a sample report, check references and score them on the same scale. Remove any agency that guarantees rankings or dismisses the professional conduct rules.

Are pay-per-lead SEO companies for law firms allowed?

It depends on the arrangement and on your state’s rules. ABA Model Rule 7.2(b) limits paying anyone for recommending a lawyer’s services, with exceptions. Ask your counsel or state bar before signing.

What should the best SEO companies for law firms report each month?

Rankings for agreed keywords, calls, form submissions and consultations by practice area, and a short summary of work done and next steps. Rankings alone do not show whether SEO is bringing in clients.